I fell in love with each and every one of the little fairy/gnome houses the preschoolers made at camp last week. (see part one here). Each house was created with little bit of the personality of each child shining through. By nature, children are such creative little beings and I am always enchanted by how they go about working on a project. My very favorite detail of all the houses was this pine cone bottom, that was simply pushed up in the doorway of the above house (the top scales of the cone were removed and used as "shingles" on another house). The boy, in a matter-of-fact way said, "It's protection. For the gnome." Then, "I need an acorn...you know, as a light." And so it went...once the kids got started, their vision of what they were creating became clearer. I tried to listen carefully to all the wonderful little details that came out of their imaginations as they added this or that, but I was feeling a bit harried with my hot glue trying to keep up with the need to anchor something down immediately.

Here are all the wonderful creations:

More little details on the mossy roof tops...an acorn bird nest with two bean eggs, a pine cone for one chimney and an acorn for the other ("the part that dips down in the acorn is where the smoke comes out"). Shell "doorbells", stone edging, glass beads to reflect for light. Every little piece put on with such intention. So sweet.

No room at the table for snack, so we had our popcorn "picnic style" in the playroom.

There was lots of dress up and gnome play and stories this week too.

I was happy to have learned about making dandelion puffs earlier in the month and we happily hairspaired and glittered the white puffs in the backyard, which I later went out and picked to glue sticks to. They are truly magical.

I also had fun playing with building a new little house for the nature table. I chose stone siding, a moss roof top and little stepping stones made out of pepples left to dry in a puddle of glue.

I think I'm having as much fun as the kids at my preschool summer camp this week. It's Make a Fairy/Gnome house from a wooden bird house (they are the $1 ones found at the craft store).

Day 1: the children chose their bird house and decided whether or not they wanted a door opening (all of them did). With just a kitched knife and a pliers I was able to make the opening quite easily.

Day 2: (today) the children had the option to paint their house using the black walnut ink I made last fall. (all of them wanted to). I talked a little about black walnuts and how to extract the color to make a dye, paint or ink...but as it's more of an autumn thing it's hard to make the connection. I did have a few in the freezer to show them (thus the frost). Also, we found a few shells on our walk. The black walnut stained the wood so beautifully I almost want to just leave them like they are...but tomorrow we will start to decorate them.

I love this little village of houses. (there are a few extra in there as I always plan for an emergency back up in case one were to break or something).

We took a nature walk in the morning to gather supplies to use to decorate the houses. It was probably THE longest walk in Willow House history...because, well, there is just so so much to explore!

Today I began teaching my first of four summer theme camps at the preschool...it's build a fairy/gnome house from a wooden bird house week. Needless to say, I've got small worlds on my mind. Today was just an introductory day. The kids chose their houses, we gathered supplies on a nature walk and we read fairy inspired stories. I can already tell it's going to be a fun week and the children are so excited to begin decorating their houses. I'll be able to show them here by the end of the week.